Most people will know him as the son of RTE presenter Gerry Ryan rather than an up-and-coming actor in his own right.

Now Rex Ryan wants to be taken seriously on his own merit, having just written and appeared in his highly-rated play.

But the talented 22-year-old insisted his family name or privileged upbringing won’t be a hindrance or help to his career.

He told the Irish Mirror: “I’m not worried that people will know me for the Ryan name and my dad.

“I think my experiences so far of the work that I’ve done, it hasn’t affected me whatsoever – for my advantage or for my disadvantage.

“So it’s really nice for me. You have to really be your own self and that’s key I suppose in life.”

Viewers will be shocked by Rex’s play – The Park – which is based around three tracksuit-wearing thugs from a rough area of Dublin.

His highly-gritty production focuses on extremely tough subjects, such as sex, violence and drugs.

But Rex insisted he didn’t have a hard time including any of the themes, which may have been painful given the role drugs played in the death of his 2fm star father.

He added: “None of them were hard to put in, it’s life. It’s life, that’s it.

“They are themes everyone can connect with in their own different way. I was happy to put those out there.

“It is very edgy, but I think it’s honest. It’s not edgy for the sake of it.

“It’s an honest piece and that’s why I’m behind it and that’s why I’m willing to talk about it because I feel it has honesty.”

And Rex, who is studying at the Gaiety School of Acting, has the support of his siblings Lottie, Bonnie, Babette and Elliot and his proud mum Morah.

They will see him beat up one of his co-stars when they come to see him perform on Saturday.

Rex said: “Mum is extremely supportive, she would be front rows at all the shows.

“She will be coming to see the show on Saturday, so we’ll see what she thinks about it.”

Recently, Rex shocked the country after appearing in a music video with ex-Miss Universe Ireland Rozanna Purcell, where they snogged and romped in highly-suggestive scenes.

And he has insisted he wants to keep acting and hopes his career will shoot towards Hollywood.

Rex said: “I really enjoy writing and I think if you’re honest with your writing, you can do a lot of possibly good and maybe affect people – or bad, I don’t know – but affect people anyway.

“And act, it’s what I want to do, it’s what I want to do with my life.

“With acting, I want to do everything. I feel great now my play is out there, I’m delighted to be performing the show.

“I just want to do good work and hopefully trying to affect people.”

Already, showbiz insiders have claimed Rex has the talent to become the new Colin Farrell – with both having a similar screen appeal and likeability.

But Rex, who is studying at the same school the Phone Booth star went to but didn’t graduate from, doesn’t want people to expect too much from him.

He said: “That’s a lot to live up to. Colin is an extremely talented actor.

“If I achieve anywhere near his success I would be doing quite well.”

For the moment, Rex is concentrating on The Park, which will also be performed at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin tonight and on Saturday.

He said he hopes people will feel for wayward youths after seeing his play.

Rex admitted he has a lot of sympathy for those brought up in disadvantaged areas who, like everyone else, are a product of their upbringing.

He added: “It’s not black and white and the characters are quite complex.

Rex with brother Elliot, sister Bonnie and dad Gerry

“I think, I hope, it’s not just, ‘This is the scumbag from inner-city Dublin. This is the guy that has an OK family and he goes around fighting people because that’s what he likes to do’.

“It stems from something and I think you can see it in my character that it’s his upbringing that causes him to do what he does.

“And I think that’s something everyone can relate with.

“Your upbringing has a profound affect on you no matter what. You can’t get around it. I am just fascinated and have a lot of sympathy for people who might possibly be trapped because of circumstance.

“I wanted to get that across that someone usually isn’t born evil. I think it stems from somewhere, it stems from some experience.” And Rex revealed the inspiration for his edgy characters came from people he knew as a youngster in Clontarf.

He said: “I had a character in my head and he might have represented people I knew when I was younger.

“There were a few guys I saw that were almost trapped because of their family situations.

“In Luke, the character I play, I started writing about that entrapment.

“And then the other characters starting coming after that.

“It was something that I could really connect to with the friendship aspect and the trials the guys had to go through because of what was expected of them in both of their different cultural spheres.

“It came from an idea of a character and maybe experiences when I was younger.

“I’ve seen guys like that seem lost because of their circumstances.”

For more information, or to book tickets, log on to www.smockalley.com